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tv   Jansing and Co.  MSNBC  November 16, 2012 7:00am-8:00am PST

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good morning. there's a lot going on this friday morning in washington and around the world. in 15 minutes congressional leaders will meet with president obama to talk about the fiscal cliff. also this morning former cia director david patraeus testifying at two closed hearings on capitol hill about what happened on september 11 in libya. major developments in the situation in israel and gaza where they could be on the brink of war. two rockets hitting southern tel aviv today. that was the sound they heard there. while no one was hurt it is the farthest gaza has ever hit inside israel. a brief cease-fire earlier in the day did not last long either. let's go to gaza live. >> reporter: good morning,
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richard. in fact, those sirens you're hearing on the israeli side, there aren't any of them here in gaza. in fact, israel has been carrying out air strikes all over the course of the past several hours. palestinians are reporting that there were casualties including a palestinian boy in the city. palestinian militants have been able to fire rockets into southern israel. there is no sign that the conflict on that front is actually slowing down. in fact, what many people here are questioning is the ability of the palestinians to be able to fire rockets so deep into israel raising questions about whether the israeli military operations so far have been successful. talking about a cease-fire there was brief hope of that today when the egyptian prime minister with a high ranking delegation of his ministers arrived here. he came to express a message of solidarity with the palestinian people denouncing the israeli aggression and he described it on the gaza strip but he was also trying to carry a message of a possible truce being broken. shortly after he arrived israel carried out a series of air
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strikes in the gaza strip. the hope that there could have been a truce or lull in the violence was quickly shattered. on the humanitarian front the palestinian people here in gaza, very dire situation for them. they are unable to get the basic supplies they need and have been complaining about the cost of food and the shortage of some supplies as a result of the war over the past 48 hours. so a lot of developments here. right now the question is whether or not there is going to be a ground invasion and there are ominous signs as israel prepares or at least amasses its forces on the border and international aid workers leaving gaza that that is in fact what is going to happen in the coming days. richard? >> tensions rising there in gaza. thank you so much. we'll be speaking with p.j. crowley coming up a spokesman from the state department with more on that story. also one of our top stories today general petraeus finishing up testimony before the house intelligence committee now talking to the senate intelligence community. he is being questioned on what happened on september 11 in benghazi. of course, he also has been
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under fire for his affair with by ogg raffer paula broadwell. i want to bring in my guests. you know, this was supposed to clear up questions about what happened in libya and the timing but here is what peter king had to say just last hour. >> many streams of intelligence but he also stated that he thought all along he made it clear that there was significant terrorism involvement and that is my recollection. i'm satisfied with the ultimate conclusion he reached. i told him i honestly disagreed with his recollection of what he told us on september 14th. >> not his recollection here. will this just raise more questions? >> i think for republicans it will. i do get a sense there is fishing for a scandal here on the part of republican members of congress. they had been doing that before the election and i think it hasn't stopped since. i think what we know is that there was a straight forward
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difference between the cia's initial assessment of what happened on september 11 in benghazi and what they later revised that assessment to be. i don't think there is a scandal there. i think you had the cia giving its best initial assessment to dr. susan rice who then gave that assessment to the public on behalf of the white house and then the assessment changed on the part of the cia. i'm not sure what the scandal is but i've heard words like watergate being thrown around which i think goes a step too far and is too political. >> cameras did not catch petraeus arriving this morning even though there were reporters staking out every possible entrance and all we saw was a black car leaving his home early this morning. "the washington post" is reporting also here that the hearings are being held in secret committee rooms used for discussion on national security matters. what do you think this says about how petraeus is viewed on the hill? >> well, i don't know what republicans, whether they're fishing for a scandal or not but i'm fishing for answers.
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there's no doubt that the public was given misleading and wrong information at the beginning by susan rice. the president was exactly right. she was just reading the talking points she was given by the administration and she was on that show at the administration's request. but why is it we didn't know right away that it was a terrorist action? was it miscommunication in the fog of war? most americans would understand that. or was there an attempt to deceive the public because they didn't want to have a bad story out? i don't know because i'm hearing different things from the administration and i would like to see a clear answer on this myself. >> ron, stand by. joy-ann as well. i'll bring in congressman adam schiff a democrat from california who is on the select committee on intelligence. representative, peter king basically saying yet more questions are arising from petraeus's testimony. what can you tell us about david petraeus's testimony this morning? >> i think he gave us a very candid assessment of his initial thoughts based on the best intelligence when he originally briefed us and how the assessments changed over time. and i think he and others have
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completely debunked the idea that there was some politicization of the intelligence. there's never been any substance to that charge. i can only surmise that, you know, this was a campaign era attack and some of my colleagues just can't let it go. all the evidence to the contrary they just can't seem to let it go. you know, people respected what he had to say today. many of us value the contributions he has made to the country and are sorry to see him go but, again, there is simply no there there. yes, they made errors in their initial assessment. that is going to happen. we have binders full of the raw intelligence. we can see why those errors were made. we can also see why they changed and improved their assessment. there is no great mystery. >> were you satisfied with what david patraeus said? representative king said he was. >> was i satisfied? yes. you know, i think these are, you know, people who were giving us their best professional insights and at the time they told us, look, it's early.
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we're going to learn more. this is what we think right now. and some of the members just didn't pay attention when they were told these are our early assessments. and there is a lot of fog of war that covers an event like this and if i could go into the particulars of the intelligence you'd have a better sense of just why initially they thought there were protests outside of the facility. >> can you talk around what the particulars were? >> well, you know, we have a combination of intelligence streams, some human intelligence, some technical and tactical. some open source. you have organizations taking credit for things they didn't do. you have other organizations disavowing their involvement that may have been involved. and so you have to parce all of that out and sort it out and that takes time. some of the very best evidence, and i think some of the best evidence was some of the video evidence didn't come to us until late and i think there are good questions about why we didn't get that sooner or why some of the state department people, why their views didn't rise to the top because they were in the
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best position to tell us, but that doesn't suggest in any way that there was some politicization and i think it is time for us to move on and find those responsible and bring them to justice. >> john mccain and a few other senators as you know have been very vocal saying this administration was either incompetent or involved in a coverup, those words. what you heard today, does it put that question to rest? >> it really does. and no one who's ever come in from the intelligence community has ever suggested anything along those lines. i asked the general in particular about ambassador rice and he was very clear. the unclassified talking points we were given were their best assessment they could give us without compromising classified information. and her comments track that exactly. we were given that late on saturday. she appeared early on sunday. there is simply no there there and i wish my gop colleagues could move on to focus on what we should be focusing on, which
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is finding those responsible and bringing them to justice. in a year in which it wouldn't have been a presidential election that's what we would be doing and that's what we should be doing now. >> well, about that affair with paula broadwell, and the possibility of classified information being compromised, what did you learn about that? was that discussed at all? >> it really wasn't discussed at all. there was a threshold question at the outside -- outset of the hearing just to set the stage essentially that nothing to do with the reasons why he resigned had any impact on benghazi or there was no connection between the two and once that threshold question was set aside then we were able to move on to the focus of the hearing which was purely benghazi. >> 90 minutes more or less. what was the mood? >> i think the mood was somber. you know, certainly people understand the difficult time that general petraeus is going through. nobody wanted to embarrass him
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or humiliate him. we wanted to get to the bottom of why the early assessments weren't accurate. what kind of security did we have? what does this say going forward? and as he always has, when he's come to testify before a committee, i think he was very forthcoming, very straight shooter, and that didn't change today. >> all right. congressman adam schiff, thank you so much for your time today. back to our journalists, ron, to you first, from what you heard from the congressman does that help answer some of the questions that you had? >> no, it doesn't. hopefully more will come out of these hearings and followup reporting by journalists. i think folks would like to know when was it that the cia had a definitive proof this was a terrorist attack? why wasn't that information brought to the public immediately? i'm kind of struck by the questions about the affair. i would think if petraeus
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compromised national security because of the affair, put himself in a bad position he should be held accountable obviously and if general allen or petraeus violated the military code of conduct obviously should be held accountable. but really the big story here is there are still men and women fighting and dying in afghanistan and if i'm one of those soldiers over there or a member of their family i'd be more interested in us covering that story and focusing on what is happening or not happening there than the personal lives of these men. >> joy-ann, petraeus was the only member of the security team able to go back to benghazi since that attack. is the big question here really timing when you look at it? did the administration know this was a terrorist attack right away and if so, what susan rice said on "meet the press" they're trying to put the timing together with that. what does that say about the video, the reasoning that was given? >> i think what we recall that the president did call it an act of terror the first time he spoke of the attack there. i think if the question is that it is the most important to the public is whether the word
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"terrorism" was used early enough i'm not sure what the meat of that supposed scandal would be. i think that if there was some sort of a conspiracy you'd have to believe that the head of the cia general petraeus, a man that the republican party once wanted or thought of as a potential presidential nominee, would have had to conspire to lie essentially about the details of an attack on our own compound. is that really what is being alleged here i don't even think republican members of congress are alleging that. i'm not sure what they're trying to get at. the administration was given an assessment by the cia. susan rice went to the public and gave that to the public. when that information changed, the new information was given to the public. so i am not sure what they're looking for because i don't think there is anything beyond that. >> just to be clear, i'm not saying there's necessarily a conspiracy. what i'm saying is there was a lack of clarity. if the president was indeed
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clear that first day in saying that this was a terrorist act which by the way i don't think he was that clear, he was speaking generally, then why would susan rice a few days later not refer to it as a terrorist act? the fact of the matter is -- >> so the issue is the word terrorism wasn't used to the public satisfaction? >> one day it was vaguely described. the president saying that he referred to terror one day and then several days later the secretary or susan rice doesn't even refer to terrorism. she is talking about -- you can go right back to the video. the facts weren't clearly described from the beginning. >> isn't that an attack on our compound by definition an act of terror? i'm not sure i understand what exactly -- if the scandal is the public wasn't given the right nomenclature i'm not really sure why we're having hearings about that. >> joy-ann and ron, we have 90 minutes more in the senate where david petraeus is answering questions. perhaps we'll get more answers to what has happened regarding the issue you're talking about and more.
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we'll of course be watching that. joy-ann reid, ron fournier, thank you for your time today. we're just a short time from president obama's meeting with congressional leaders at the white house. speaker john boehner and house minority leader nancy pelosi will be there and others at any moment to talk about the fiscal cliff. the president spoke to labor leaders and business executives earlier in the week. it's a busy day in washington, d.c. we'll have more on all of this coming up. diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you.
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the crisis has escalated sharply between israel and palestinians in gaza right now. israel started drafting 16,000 reserve troops today following repeated rocket attacks from hamas operatives. air raid sirens went off in tel aviv as israeli war planes pounded hamas targets in gaza overnight.
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israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu warns military operations could significantly increase. >> no government would tolerate a situation where nearly 1/5 of its people live under a constant barrage of rockets and missile fire. and israel will not tolerate the situation. i hope that hamas and the other terror organizations in gaza got the message. if not, israel is prepared to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people. >> joining me now is former assistant secretary of state for public affairs and spokesman for the u.s. department of state p.j. crowley. thanks for being with us. how serious will this conflict become from what you've seen here? >> we know it can become very serious. we've had these experiences in the past. you know, some handled at a relatively modest level of violence but obviously we've had a serious incursion by israel into gaza before in response to just these kinds of barrage of
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rocket attacks. so this could escalate. >> do you see it as a repeat of 2008-2009? >> i mean, on the ground potentially, but obviously there are different reasons here. you know, on the one hand you have a dramatically different landscape. you have a new normal in the middle east in the aftermath of the arab spring and you're seeing very different politics play out here in terms of what hamas is trying to do. you've got a civil war next door in syria. you have a different government in egypt and the morrisey government is reacting differently than perhaps the mubarak government did before. >> what's the short-term solution then? >> well, i think the danger for israel for example, it has a right of self-defense, but obviously if it decides to return ground troops to gaza the optics there work against israel in a much -- in a region that
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now is governed far more by populism than by authoritarianism. i think it has to make sure that its response is aggressive, tries to deal with the threat to israel's people, but doesn't go too far. >> let's talk about the united states' potential role. health care was president obama's defining achievement for his first term. when we look at a second term will the president look at middle east peace, the road map to peace might this be his big deal for his second term? does it need to be? >> i think that's part of the motivation here. you know, you have coming up the palestinian authority which of course controls the west bank but not gaza is preparing to try to move toward enhanced status within the united nations and then president abbas indicated in the aftermath of that he might petition prime minister netanyahu to resume middle east negotiations. hamas obviously hears that and as we've seen many times in the past is trying to act as the
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spoiler. it's trying to remind the palestinian people that it's the resistance that's not looking for a peaceful resolution to this. so there's a lot of politics in play in what hamas has done and potential politics in play in terms of how israel responds. obviously this could create an opening down the road. the united states wants to see a return to an actual negotiation but violence usually deters or prevents those kinds of diplomatic openings from occurring. >> hence the look forward to a short-term solution. you recently wrote about the -- when we take a step back from what's happening directly in israel and hamas, you wrote about how wide and broad the problem could be. just to list a couple as you can see, we've got benghazi, pakistan, afghanistan, egypt, iraq, the eurozone, north korea, china. the list goes on and on here. the u.s. has limited international political capital to spend as you know yet the challenges seem to be increasing. they seem to be changing every
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month. what would you suggest are the top three that the united states should invest its political capital in? >> i think the real danger here is actually you have a cross threading of very different issues. you do have the ultimate challenge in the middle east being iran's nuclear ambitions and obviously the potential that military action may be required potentially to deal with that. i think there will be a diplomatic initiative and we hope that will be successful. you have a genuine civil war going on in syria. there is no real military solution there per se. i think the challenge for the international community is to try to contain the violence within syria. we've seen in recent months shots fired toward turkey. you've had unrest on the other border with jordan so there is a danger that syria could explode as opposed to implode. now you add the gaza situation. some unrest on the border between israel and egypt. so you have these different
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challenges that could spread if we're not careful. >> a challenging job ahead for the department of state as well as the president. we'll see as things develop there. thank you for stopping by today. >> a pleasure, richard. today's deadline for states to decide whether they'll create their own health care insurance exchange as part of the new health care law is being extended. the white house saying states now have until december 14th. the republican governor's association asked the white house for more time. many gop governors waited to take action hoping mitt romney would win the presidency. the government will set up exchanges in states that do not create their own. look, if you have copd like me, you know it can be hard to breathe, and how that feels. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open for 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily
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starts with ground beef, unions, and peppers baked in a ketchup glaze with savory gravy and mashed russet potatoes. what makes stouffer's meatloaf best of all? that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. let's fix dinner. the ntsb is investigating a tragic crash in texas between a freight train and parade float carrying wounded veterans. four veterans were killed and 16 others injured when the train hit the float yesterday in midland. that float was carrying veterans
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and their spouses. they were on their way to a banquet. witnesses say people were trying to jump off the float at the point of impact. midland's mayor says the crash is a huge blow to the town. >> i shook their hands and saw them personally, met their wives. truly was an honor to be in their presence. these guys are true american heroes. >> the spokesman for the union pacific train line says the gates and lights were working and the train was sounding its horn before that crash. their name on the door, and their heart into their community. small business saturday is a day to show our support. a day to shop at stores owned by our friends and neighbors. and do our part for the businesses that do so much for us. on november 24th, let's get out and shop small.
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on gasoline. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and it's not just these owners giving the volt high praise. volt received the j.d. power and associates appeal award two years in a row. ♪ all right. right now president obama, key congressional leaders from both parties are behind closed doors at the white house. they're trying to find ways to finally find some common ground and avoid the january 1st fiscal cliff when drastic spending cuts and massive tax increases would take effect. those in attendance, there are some guests along with congressional leaders. we understand nancy pelosi will be there, john boehner the
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speaker will be there. we understand some guests will be the vice president, of course minority leader mitch mcconnell will also be there. we also understand that during this discussion will be some tough questions obviously and that is about the tax cuts and what the top 2% will have to pay. here is what happened moments ago. take a listen. >> i want to welcome the congressional leadership here and thank them for their time. i think we're all aware that we have some urgent business to do. we've got to make sure that taxes don't go up on middle class families, that our economy remains strong, that we're creating jobs, and that's an agenda that democrats and republicans and independents, people all across the country share. so our challenge is to make sure that, you know, we are able to cooperate together, work together, find some common
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ground, make some tough compromises, build some consensus to do the people's business. what the folks are looking for, and i think all of us agree on this, is action. they want to see that we are focused on them, not focused on our politics here in washington. so my hope is that this is going to be the beginning of a fruitful process where we're able to come to an agreement that will reduce our deficit in a balanced way, that we will deal with some of the long-term impediments to growth and we're also going to be focusing on making sure the middle class families are able to get ahead. so i want to thank all the leadership for coming and with that, we'll get to work. thank you very much, everybody. appreciate it. oh, wait. excuse me. there is actually one other point i wanted to make and that is that my understanding is that tomorrow is speaker boehner's
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birthday so for those of you who want to wish him a happy birthday, we will -- we're not going to embarrass him with a cake because we didn't know how many candles were needed. >> yeah right. >> but we do want to wish him a happy birthday. thank you. >> all right. thank you, everybody. thank you, guys. appreciate it. >> didn't want to embarrass him but did bring it up during those meetings. they discussed the fiscal cliff. all the leaders, congressional leaders there at the white house. that happened just moments ago. i'd like to bring in nbc news political analyst and former pennsylvania governor ed rendell and republican strategist and former bush 41 aide joe watkins. governor, i want to start with you. we've given the list of the key negotiators there meeting with the president. we saw it in that tape that was just fed out to us moments ago. when we think of this, some might say, you know, second verse same as the first. >> no, not really. because the sequestration puts a lot of extra pressure on them.
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and more than that, it's key if the economy is going to rebound in the short term and the long term. we have to get that debt crisis under control. it's a condition precedent for any sort of growth at all. i think everyone understands that. i think the election resolves some problems, not all. it's going to be tough. there's going to be pain all around. and everyone is going to have to give a little. it's a monumental task. you know, the public has been led to believe that if the president gets his rates on the top 2% the battle is over. that's only $800 billion over ten years. they've got to come up -- they cut a trillion last year -- still got to come up with at least $2.2 trillion or maybe $3 trillion of cuts or additional revenue enhancements and there is the rub. are we going to cut the military budget, what domestic cuts, entitlement cuts, more revenue? there are a whole lot of issues above and beyond just raising rates on the top 2%.
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>> which a grand bargain might solve as we remember from the last debate, round of negotiations here. >> sure. >> as you were alluding to here the bush tax cuts, that is really the major sticking point. the president wants to keep them. he won't accept those earning over $250,000. just in the last day nancy pelosi offering wiggle room. john boehner, mitch mcconnell saying they want the bush tax cuts for everyone. joe, will they have to bend on that? isn't that really the issue? will they bend on the republican side? >> the republicans are going to have to bend. we have to get this done. we've only got 46 days before the -- before we would fall off this fiscal cliff and to fall off the cliff would mean 3.9% hit for gdp next year. we can't afford that because that would potentially throw us into another recession. we want to avoid that at all costs. the big issue i think for most people would be taxes. most people -- and governor rendell said, well, it's not just a matter of tax increases on the wealthiest americans but
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it's a host of spending challenges that we face across the board that would impact millions of people and certainly impact us in a huge way. i think republicans have to bend. republicans are going to be looking at of course cuts in spending and cuts in entitlements as well as the possibility of new revenue and i think they're very open to this. i think some republicans will push back and say there is a difference between somebody making 250, that is $250,000 and somebody making a million dollars a year or a difference between somebody making $250,000 and making $500,000 a year. but those are fairly minor points when you consider the amount of money we need to come to agreement on. >> and if there is no agreement according to pew at least on tuesday they were saying by a ratio of 2-1 republican congressional members will be blamed if this does not happen. governor, you know the stakes just to be specific about what joe was talking about, for millions of americans here, let's look at the stakes for every day americans. the tax policy center saying the average middle class family will
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see taxes rise by nearly $2,000. the congressional budget office saying unemployment could climb to over 9% by the end of next year. so talk about pew. they're also saying 1 in 4 americans are saying that the understanding of the fiscal cliff and saying they understand it very well is only that rate. 1 in 4. does that favor the president because he can frame the argument as chief government spokesman? >> sure. the president always has the bully pulpit. one thing i want to make clear, all of our listeners and viewers now, is that the tax rate increase the president is proposing is only on income earned over 250. so for some family earning $280,000, they'll pay the same rate on the first $250,000 of income. they'll pay the increased rate on only the additional $30,000. so that does cushion the blow for those people at $280,000 in some areas of the country with two kids in college who really aren't very rich. but that cushions the blow.
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but remember, we've got to do a whole lot more. that is only $800 billion in revenue over ten years. we've got to get up at least another $400 billion or $500 billion in revenue so we have to cut some tax expenditures and also have to cut the military budget. richard, we spend more, ten times more than china, who is the number two spender on military, $700 billion a year compared to china, $70 billion. we spend more than the top 20 other countries in the world spend on defense put together. gates, secretary gates said we could cut $80 billion a year out of military alone. we're not going to get that type of cut but we need to get significant cuts in military spending as well as domestic spending. >> all right. governor rendell, joe watkins. apologize. we'll get to you next time. we'll call you our pennsylvania pundits today on a friday. thank you so much. the death nell for ding dongs. twilight for twinkies. hostess is closing its doors. cnbc's mandy drury is here with
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what is moving your money. that announcement was made just a few hours ago. not only are we talking about the end of some icon ik baked goods but also thousands of jobs here. >> absolutely. it is really sad. they've got almost 18,500 workers and, richard, most of them are going to be laid off. hostess asked a court's permission this morning to shut down the company because that workers strike i was talking to you about yesterday just basically crippled it and stopped them from being able to operate. bakery operations have been suspended at all plants and now it's focused on selling its assets. that includes 33 bakeries, 565 distribution centers, but as to what happens to those assets the ceo told cnbc that he is hopeful they can sell those brands or the brands can live on because obviously these are iconic and have been in many americans' homes for decades. >> i can't even tell you how many ding dongs and twinkies i've eaten over my lifetime and i better not. thank you so much. cnbc's mandy drury on a friday,
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exclusive interview with msnbc's rachel maddow. >> 25% of our caucus is new, women and minorities, 50% women and minorities and lbgt community folks. there is something very important in having other thinking whether it's gender, whether it's ethnic, whether it's regional, whether it's generational, to have a mixture of thinking at the table. it makes the product better but also gives people hope outside who say, there is somebody there who understands my aspirations, my challenges. >> you can also add religion to the list with some significant firsts. the first buddhist senator, the only nontheist believing in the absence or rejection of god is in the house, and the first hindu and only unitarian universalist. joining me now is democratic congressman keith ellison of minnesota. representative, always good to see you here. >> thank you. glad to be on. >> you know, as many know you were the first muslim elected to congress yet islam in america
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goes back more than a century. >> yes. >> that could be said of many of the religions i was just mentioning here. why do you think this is the era that people like this are finally being elected? >> well, i think it is because people are participating, people are engaged in our democratic process. america is more open and tolerant than it ever has been in its history and i think that folks want to be part of this great american experiment. i mean, america started out great for religion. it said congress shall make no law establishing religion nor bridge the free exercise thereof. also it said there is no religious test to hold office. and now we're seeing, reaping the fruits of that, those promises and it's really a great thing. >> un, we can't help but think of jfk. when he was elected. >> oh, yeah. >> the issue of catholicism was being debated. that was a big milestone. you being elected as a muslim was another. we have mitt romney as a presidential candidate, a mormon. >> right. >> we look at all of these here. the issue of religion, the wider
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religious representation that's happening at the moment, does it show it is becoming an issue or is it a nonissue in the voting booth now? >> it's both for different people. there is no doubt about it there are people who write to my office every day decrying the fact that i'm a muslim and there are people, you know, mormons have been subject to discrimination and mitt romney had to deal with some of that but what it really shows is most americans believe in religious tolerance. most people believe in inclusion. but there is a vocal minority who always lets us know they are there trying to buy people on the basis of religion. and, unfortunately, we can't ignore them but, fortunately, they don't rule the day. >> and the mix of what has happened in congress just to go back oo years compared to the current congress, the number of protestant christian members has gone down by more than 17 percentage points. there are now more catholics and
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jews and we have more mormons, muslims, and buddhists serving. just looking at the numbers in front of you. on the flip side of that, what more needs to be done when it comes to religious diversity in congress and as you were just mentioning, tolerance. >> right. well, what more needs to be done is we need to make use of the diverse talents of the people who are there. we should learn from each other more and we should use each other to benefit from the life experience of people who are newly arrived in congress. i mean, since i've been in congress i've been called upon by friends, both sides of the aisle, to tell them a little bit more about what islam is about. of course, i expect the newer members will be called upon to be -- to explain their way of living and seeing the world, too. but i think that we can't just be there together. we've got to benefit from being there together and that means we've got to talk and communicate. we also have to stand up against
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religious bigotry because, again, it still is there. it is still part of our life. >> you were mentioning the talking with each other, working with each other. you being a religious minority in congress. the first muslim as we have been mentioning. what might you say to who i just mentioned, the first hindu and the first buddhist when you see them in the halls for the first time? what might you say to them? >> well, what i'll say to them is, welcome to congress. look forward to helping you in any way i can. and what i have been, after the greeting and after recognizing their status as a member of congress without regard to race, religion, or anything like that, then i might say, you know, let's talk about how we can promote religious tolerance for all people. let's talk about how we can be faithful to constitutional promise of inclusion for all faith traditions. and let's build on that. i would recommend don't hide. don't minimize. but also, don't let your
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religion define you. i mean, you're also -- nobody can get to the u.s. congress based simply on a religious identity. you're here because of your business background, your education background, whatever it is. and let that really be what defines you. remember, when jackie robinson broke into the major leagues, he was the first black baseball player but if he didn't get any hits, he would have been a footnote in history. he happened to be the rookie of the year. i think the best thing to do is be excellent. do the best you can and serve your constituents and speak up for the people who sent you here. >> that is what the american people want, no doubt. thank you so much. congressman keith ellison, have a good weekend. >> yes, sir. >> all righty. today's tweet of the day comes from someone who thinks something fishy is going on with hostess closing its doors. church curmudgeon writes this. somehow i think they're not telling the whole truth. i suspect little debby is behind all of this. hash tag twinkies.
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and to politics now. where we begin with a political food fight. some 19,000 facebook fans say they plan to eat at papa john's pizza today to support founder john smatter a critic of the obama health care law who says the law will cause prices to jump 14 cents per pizza and possibly cut back on worker hours. a denny's franchise owner in florida said he planned to impose a 5% obama care surcharge on grand slams and all other menu items but is now walking that back saying that was never his actual intention but he does say his workers face reduced hours. president obama is getting better marks from voters in a new gallup poll. his favorable rating has climbed three points since the election. democrats saw a six-point jump republicans one. some good reviews for vice president biden who made his
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primetime television debut last night on nbc's "parks and recreation." >> you must be leslie. welcome. welcome. >> you're -- my -- my name just came out of your mouth. >> well yeah. it did. >> well, this isn't happening. this isn't real. >> no, it's happening. i'm delighted to have you here. you've done such a great job in your town and the state of indiana. i just want to say congratulations for your public service. >> i just want to say thank you. >> well, you are very welcome. you're very welcome. you're very welcome. >> details of the petraeus sex scandal seem stranger than fiction. you're not alone. comedy central's steven colbert has had enough. >> bottom line it's a soap opera and it is done. we should all move on. >> oh, this is far from over. >> susan lucci! >> oh, yes. and there's more. general petraeus has developed
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amnesia. and can't remember that he's pregnant! by his own evil twin! who's in a coma. >> that doesn't make any sense. >> how dare you? >> and that does wrap up this hour of jansing & company on a friday. thomas roberts is up next. susan lucci looking good. >> erica kane showing up on colbert. good stuff. thanks so much. good morning everybody. the agenda next hour we talk more about general petraeus because he took to the hill for separate closed door hearings on the september 11 benghazi consulate attack that killed four americans. congressman dutch rupers berger was in the hearing and will join me about the general's testimony on the evolving intelligence of the facts. president obama welcoming congressional leaders to the white house today looking to broker a deal on raising taxes and cutting spending. is the right softening on its former no taxes pledge?
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and people in tel aviv remain on high alert as sirens continue to blair after a truce between israel and gaza collapses. is a ground war about to erupt? we have fresh details coming your way next. ah. fire bad! just have to fire roast these tomatoes. do you churn your own butter too? what? this is going to give you a head start on your dinner. that seems easier sure does who are you? [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. five delicious cooking sauces you combine with fresh ingredients to make amazing home-cooked meals. ♪ ambiance [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. your head-start to home cooked. social security are just numbers newthinkin a budget.d...rters. well, we worked hard for those benefits. we earned them. and if washington tries to cram decisions about the future... of these programs into a last minute budget deal... we'll all pay the price. aarp is fighting to protect seniors with responsible...
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how happy are they jimmy? happier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. a big morning at the white house on capitol hill and overseas. right now top congressional leaders are meeting with the president at the white house about the fiscal cliff. also this morning four star general david patraeus talks before closed door intel hearings on benghazi. i'll be talking to two congressmen who were there. all of this aspirates finds himself under investigation now by the agency he once led. first we want to go straight to the breaking news this hour and the escalating conflict in the middle east. local reports say at least one missile from gaza landed near jerusalem just about an hour ago. the second rocket to land in israel today. meanwhile, amass says an israeli strike killed three people in gaza today. the rockets are flying back and forth across a very small area. tel aviv and the gaza strip

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